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Google Maps War With Apple Is Over - Google Won

BBC News posted an excellent article today on Google Maps and their battle with Apple in the coming mapping wars. But the war was over before it started and Apple lost. They lost the day they cancelled the Google maps integration. Apple fans lost, especially.

BBC technology reporter Leo Kelion opens his post: “A new front opens up in the smartphone battle between Google and Apple this week when the search giant’s mapping technology is dropped from iPhones and iPads’ Maps app when they are upgraded to the latest version of the iOS operating system.”

Plain and simple: Google has the best data. Data wins in the mapping war and Google has an enormous lead because it is one of its greatest strengths. My prediction: Apple will start licensing the Google Maps data again within a couple of years. It is in the customer’s best interest and Apple’s, too. After all, if one of the reasons you have a smartphone is tied to navigation, your mobile phone device better make it possible. This isn’t about Google versus Apple – this is about serving the customer’s needs.

Here are three clues that Apple will probably head back to Google Maps within 24 months:

1. Kelion explained that Apple Maps rely mostly on TomTom, the handheld personal navigation device. “Apple’s Maps app will be based on technologies it adapted from three start-ups it bought between 2009 and 2011. But much of the raw location data itself is licensed from TomTom, the sat-nav gadget-maker.”

However, satellite navigation is facing an enormous battle given the speed and ubiquity of mobile phone technology and smartphone apps. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that TomTom is now starting to transition to a mapping company. You can read it here. Just starting? Another plug for Google Maps. The TomTom is a cool device, but if they are just starting to transition to “mapping” company, Apple made a bad choice. I know that Apple fans are going to say “Apple did what they had to do given the circumstances…” Okay. Remember, I’m actually an Apple fan, too. I’m simply saying that Google Maps is the superior product and customers deserve the best.

Kelion writes that the move is a blow to Google, but it is likely to be a short term advertising revenue blip for the Mountain View giant. True, they will not be able to show “sponsored links” on the default Apple iPhone maps for a while, but after Apple licks their wounds and heads back to Google Maps that revenue stream will flow again.

2. Ground Truth – you have to read Kelion’s post (link below) to fully grasp the power of what Google has done. In addition to their (now) traditional digital mapping efforts, they have analyzed streets signs, speed limits, addresses, rights of way at intersections (huge), and other details that make your map experience as close to real life as you can get. Plus, they have human operators checking each area for mistakes before it is added to the live map. And this is available in 31 nations. Tie in the user-generated potential (where you can create and correct maps) and you have a stream of data that Apple’s new direction cannot match. Like Arnold, they’ll be back.

3. This is a small reason/clue, but many urban dwellers love the map feature that revolves around public transportation. Some of the best data comes from the GTDF — the Google Transit Data Feed. Sure, loads of people drive, but in big metros public transport is heavily used, by Apple users who may want their GTDF back. Again, this is about the customer. Of course, there are loads of other mapping features native to Google Maps that Apple will have to spend a fortune to replicate. Riding a bus or train is just a tiny one.

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The war is far from over, while many of the issues in the article are true and do favor google, it i s not very representative for example Google also license much of their data for maps (like satellite imagery – probably form the same source as Apple). There has been a movement away from Google Maps by many software companies for the past few years as Google has repeatedly changed the API access rules. http://www.openstreetmap.us is the leading anti-google source today and it is growing fast. And Apple has a potential weapon in this war – 100′s of millions of iOS mobile phones that can be used to improve their data collection. Google may have many Android phones but most do not run current software and will not for years, along with the fact that most Android phones are not used for net connection (simply look at nay source like Netapplcaitons where Android is not even close to net usage of iOS devices. Also Google’s web based map application has been changing significantly recently and has become almost unusable, this is typical Google and points to their Achilles heal, near total lack of understanding how people use their products (other than search) and bad interface design. The next year will be telling, certainly if Apple’s maps application is not good Google will win but despite what this writer thinks the war has not even begun.

First, we haven’t had the chance to compare both products yet so I’m not sure why the author is so convinced that Google has “won”. Secondly and most importantly, it’s Apple we’re talking about not Walmart.

Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 is more of a challenge to Google than Apple’s new maps threat. Nokia has been mapping for a loooooooong time and has always had a competitive quality mapping product to Google Maps. Some people even prefer it to Google because Nokia isn’t all about ads. It’s almost strictly about getting you from point A to point B without trying to sell you something. I hope Apple takes that approach in iOS 6′s maps and avoids the torrential ad rain of Google Maps as it appears on Android and in the desktop browser.

With all due respect to the author from someone who’s been in the digital mapping business since the late 1980s, you need to learn the business and technology a bit better. Your comment about TomTom being a device company that’s transitioning to a mapping company reveals a profound lack of knowledge about the industry. TomTom acquired Tele Atlas, the second largest provider of digitals maps in the world, back in 2008. Nokia acquired Navteq that same year. Google originally sourced the majority of its digital maps from Tele Atlas and Navteq for many years prior to developing its own maps. TomTom has enormous resources committed to its digital map business; they are far from a new entrant. This article, and its source materials from BBC and WSJ, are chock full of erroneous information and conclusions.

With all due respect to the author from someone who’s been in the digital mapping business since the late 1980s, you need to learn the business and technology a bit better. Your comment about TomTom being a device company that’s transitioning to a mapping company reveals a profound lack of knowledge about the industry. TomTom acquired Tele Atlas, the second largest provider of digitals maps in the world, back in 2008. Nokia acquired Navteq that same year. Google originally sourced the majority of its digital maps from Tele Atlas and Navteq for many years prior to developing its own maps. TomTom has enormous resources committed to its digital map business; they are far from a new entrant or just beginning to develop maps. This article, and its source materials from BBC and WSJ, are chock full of erroneous information and conclusions.

Danny, I trust you’re also boycotting Nokia who started the patent war suing Apple using Standards Essential Patents (SEP) which were supposed to be licensed on FRAND conditions soon after the iPhone launched.

You’d also better boycott Motorola who sued Apple first and even had many Apple products banned in Germany last year for a while.

Likewise, you’d better also boycott Samsung and HTC who have also been abusing SEP FRAND patents in their litigation against Apple.

Have you even seen what Apple is doing with their maps? They may be behind Google in terms of time spent in the mapping arena, but they appear to be doing a damn good job of playing catch-up. They’ve already mapped hundreds of cities, in full 3D nonetheless, they’ll have turn-by-turn GPS navigation (which Google maps didn’t have on iOS), and their maps will be fully integrated and streamlined for iOS. Trust me, Apple fans will not miss Google maps. But even if they do, it’s not like Google has to be integrated into iOS for people to use it. iOS users will always be able to go online and use Google maps, Google will probably come out with a Google Maps app, and we already have and will continue to have the Google Earth app, which works wonderfully. As far as I know, Apple is not going so far as to block Google from iOS, they’re just dropping the integration. So users have to download an app now… Big deal. As far as I’m concerned, this is actually a good thing, because it gives iOS users more choice. We now have a choice of Apple maps or Google maps. And we’ll probably be seeing a new YouTube app for iOS directly from Google now. Which I think will be a huge improvement, because the current Apple YouTube app pretty much sucks. The divorce between Apple and Google is actually a positive thing, IMO, because it will allow more democratization and healthy competition. Both of which only spell good things for consumers.